Hi Harry,
Thank you for your patience.
This is a difficult question we are faced with-- if we remove the text
entry, then people who are accustomed to typing paths into that entry in
order to navigate their folders will no longer be able to do so.
But, if we keep the text entry, then we have the problem that I
discussed with you in my first mail on this subject. Namely, in the
vast majority of cases in which people use the fileselector, the entry
displays the name of the selected item. ...but in this case, the text
entry will always be blank. I am concerned that this apparent
inconsistency is rather confusing; people can't rely on the indicator
they are used to to know what has been selected. :-/
Hence, the question becomes this: given a choice between two nonideal
solutions, how do you determine which is preferable?
My feeling is this:
1. We should accept that since we have no data right now about how
people use this feature, we likely will need to revisit its UI later on
(when we know more about our users' reactions to it.) Whichever choice
we make now about the text entry would obviously be overriden if it
turned out that it doesn't suit people's needs.
2. For now, we should remove the text entry. It seems to me that it is
more important that people have the correct idea of where their
attachments are being saved than it is that they be able to navigate
with the text entry. People can still navigate without the entry,
anyway.
Does that seem logical to you?
best wishes,
Anna